Aston Villa sunk further into the relegation zone courtesy of a game-winning goal from Papiss Cisse.

When you support a football club which openly admits to having no cup and limited league ambitions, one of the few things fans have to look forward to are the opportunities to overturn the Premier Leagues 'big boys'. Newcastle will once again have the chance to do that when Manchester United head to Tyneside on Wednesday night.

Beating these sides becomes more and more difficult each year -- the longer Newcastle fail to invest in their playing squad and operate with so few playing options while...

When Newcastle were relegated after defeat at Villa Park in May 2009, the home fans were delighted. They came with mocking banners and bedsheets and their supporters sang songs championing Newcastle owner Mike Ashley's mismanagement of the football club.

Newcastle's players, staff and fans have not forgotten and in turn, were delighted by the 1-0 win against Villa at St James' Park on Saturday afternoon.

When Newcastle were sent crashing into the Football League by virtue of their 1-0 loss at Villa Park six years ago, it inflicted plenty of wounds on Geordie fans. It was bad enough seeing an expensively assembled team mismanaged by former manager Joe Kinnear, who laid the foundations for the drop before Chris Hughton (March to April) and Alan Shearer (April till late May) followed him in management, but by then it was too...

The team that have spent money to bring world-class players to their Premier League setup trounced the team that have reigned in their spending and are happy to simply aim for the top 10. By the end of the 5-0 drubbing, the Newcastle United fans who had made the journey to Manchester City's plush home watched on in near silence.

City had this game done and dusted long before halftime. In fact the points were all theirs with just...

MANCHESTER -- The focus had been on one forward, expensively acquired and bought to provide both a physical presence and goals.

And so he did. Just not the one who was expected to. Wilfried Bony's debut was largely irrelevant, notable only because Tim Krul, who embarked on a damage-limitation exercise when Newcastle were five goals behind, prevented him from opening his Manchester City account. The 25 million-pound man went from central attraction to subplot.

Newcastle boss John Carver looks ahead to taking on Manchester City in the English Premier League.

A trip to the Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City is a daunting task for any club. When that club's league record at the stadium over the last 10 games shows two draws and eight losses -- with five goals scored and 23 conceded -- anything less than a two-goal defeat might be considered a success.

That's the task Newcastle face on Saturday but this Manchester City side are far from invincible, and this season visiting clubs have stood almost as good a chance picking up a positive result away to...